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George III (1738–1820)

George III was king of Great
Britain and Ireland from 1760 to 1811. The third monarch from the House of Hanover,
George was just twenty-two years old when he succeeded his grandfather, George II, as king in 1760. His
reign was shaped by the Seven
Years' War (1756–1763), the Irish Rebellion (1798), and the French
Revolution (1783–1815), but he is best known as the "tyrant," called "unfit to be the
ruler of a free people" in the Declaration of Independence (1776), who
lost the American
Revolution (1775–1783). In reality, George III supported his cabinet's
authority and, with a few exceptions, influenced but did not dictate policy; once the
fighting began, he counseled his ministers to be consistent in their opposition to
the American rebellion until the defeat at Yorktown. American patriots, hostile British
contemporaries, and nineteenth-century historians all painted George III as
personally responsible for the conflict and its loss, but historical scholarship
since the 1930s has overturned this anachronistic and overly personalized reading of
the king. Despite the American loss, George III was popular among his subjects in the
decades following the war, and the fiftieth year of his reign was celebrated
countrywide in 1809–1810. In 1810, an attack of an illness, probably porphyria, which
had plagued him for nearly two decades, robbed him of his sight, hearing, and sanity.
On February 5, 1811, his son George, Prince of Wales, was appointed regent and ruled
in his place until January 29, 1820, when George III died at Windsor Castle. MORE...

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Early Years and Education

George William Frederick was born in London on June 4, 1738, the son of Frederick,
Prince of Wales, and his wife, Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. Frederick died on March 20,
1751, and George II, George's grandfather, bestowed Frederick's title upon
twelve-year-old George a month later. On October 25, 1760, he succeeded George II
as king of Great Britain and Ireland, duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and
prince-elector of Hanover. He was the third ruler in the royal British house of
Hanover, a Germanic dynasty that had come to the English throne in 1714, but the
first to be born in England. "Born and educated in this country I glory in the
name of Britain," he exclaimed in his first speech from the throne.

Prior to George's accession, John Stuart, earl of Bute, had served as his tutor,
schooling him in the same Whig principles that would nurture America's Founding Fathers. The goal
was to end factionalized politics by encouraging the monarch to act in the
national interest, above the partisan fray, thereby avoiding reliance on
oligarchic political parties. But Bute also may have nurtured the prince's natural
tendency to be suspicious, hypercritical, and self-righteous: George's governor
noted "a kind of unhappiness in his Temper" that made the young prince "Sullen
& Silent."

On September 8, 1761, at age twenty-three, George III married seventeen-year-old
Charlotte of
Mecklenburg-Strelitz; his coronation took place two weeks later on
September 22. That year he purchased Buckingham House for Charlotte, which in time
became the royal palace of choice when they were in London. Theirs was an
affectionate and fruitful union, resulting in fifteen children.

Like his wife, George III was of average intellectual capability. He compensated
for this by being thorough, at times obsessively so, in whatever he turned his
mind to: book and art collecting, music, astronomy, botany, and clocks and other
technology. Such pursuits suggest the importance to him of order and regularity.
Unlike his predecessors, who had been born in Hanover and raised as Lutherans,
George III was a devout and sincere Anglican. His Christian faith shaped a strong
sense of duty and high moral standards to which he held his friends and family
members.

Seven Years' War

During George III's reign, Britain was a constitutional monarchy. As such, it was
ruled by a cabinet or ministerial government. The term "the Crown" functionally
referred to powerful men, acting in the name of king, who controlled parliamentary
factions. Throughout the eighteenth century the direct political power of the
monarch declined, a development at work since the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the passage
of the English Bill of Rights, which limited monarchical power, in 1689.

When he came to the throne, George III inherited a ministry that had started the
Seven Years' War, a global conflict with France and Spain, among other powers (the
fighting in North America was known as the French and Indian War). The government
had borrowed huge sums of money to finance the conflict, which provoked discomfort
among the English about the unprecedented level of government debt. Part way
through the war, in 1757, a Whig ministry formed under Thomas Pelham-Holles, the
duke of Newcastle. Guided by William Pitt (the elder), the king's first government won the war, but
at a high fiscal and political cost.

It was Pitt, seeking the opposing party's support for the Whig ministry, as much
as George III, who drew the Tories—Royalist supporters—into the political center after the king's
accession. But rather than contributing to the goal of eradicating the dominance
of politics by the political parties, this development led to increased
ministerial instability, which was exacerbated when George III appointed his
friend and former tutor Bute prime minister in 1762.

Though he was a dear friend of the king's, Bute was wildly unpopular with the
public, in part because of his rumored (but unlikely) affair with the dowager
princess of Wales. His poor health made it difficult for him to focus on his
position, and he found it stressful to be in the public eye. He was replaced in
1763 by George Grenville,
who introduced the Stamp Act
(1765). The act taxed printed materials used in the colonies and was meant to help
offset the large cost of the war and of maintaining peace in its aftermath.
Grenville and the king saw eye-to-eye on many issues, including American policy
and the prosecution of John Wilkes, a member of Parliament who had repeatedly
insulted the king in his radical newspaper, The North
Briton. But their personalities clashed, and Grenville fell from power in
1765. His administration gave way to a ministry led by Charles Watson-Wentworth,
marquess of Rockingham.

The king firmly believed in choosing his
own chief ministers, and it was his practice to let his cabinet formulate policy
while counseling his ministers to be firm and resolute. But George III was
ambivalent regarding the political firestorm provoked by the Stamp Act. Three
American colonies, including Virginia, had sent petitions protesting the
legislation; the House of Commons rejected them all, an action that was in turn
condemned by the House of
Burgesses in the Virginia Resolves (1765). The king favored modifying the act rather than
enforcing or completely repealing it, which left parliamentarians who looked to
him for their cue perplexed. To resolve the imbroglio, Rockingham forced the king
to choose between repeal and enforcement, and, indeed, George III then urged
wavering members of the House of Lords to support repeal. The colonists rejoiced
at the news, even erecting a statue of the king in a New York City park. After war
with the Americans broke out he was to regret his decision, opining in 1779 that
this initial capitulation to American resistance was the first step down the path
to revolution.

American Revolution

Rockingham's tenure, like that of his predecessors, was brief. The king dismissed
him in 1766 and replaced him with Pitt, who had accepted a peerage and rose from
the House of Commons to the House of Lords as the earl of Chatham. George III's
choice of Pitt, a critic of British taxation of Americans, to lead his government
suggests the American problem did not yet loom large in royal calculation. His
appointment did not result in the unified government for which George III had
hoped: in the move to the House of Lords, Pitt lost the popularity and political
influence he'd enjoyed as a member of the House of Commons, became ill, and
suffered a nervous breakdown.

The Pitt government marked a turning point in the king's posture during the
American crisis. Prior to 1767 George III had been fundamentally passive, informed
about policy by prime ministers rather than helping form it; now he became more
involved. In 1767 the Revenue Act, drawn up by Charles Townshend, chancellor of the
exchequer, proposed duties on various goods, in particular, tea imported by the
East India Company. Several colonies, including Virginia, boycotted the trade
goods enumerated in the Townshend
duties. The cabinet responded to the crisis by proposing to delete the
Townshend duties for colonies like Virginia, which provided revenue for colonial
administration, but the king commented that it "would not be proper" given the
offensive criticism of the British government in the Virginia Resolves. After
Augustus FitzRoy, duke of Grafton (1735–1811), replaced Pitt in 1768, George III
encouraged Grafton's cabinet to reject the prime minister's proposal to repeal
American taxes completely.

From the British metropolitan perspective, a financially sound imperial policy
would maintain the fragile peace with France and Spain secured in 1763. But the
move toward imperial centralization as the solution to both European and global
situations came at just the moment many influential Americans wanted more freedom
from Britain, not less, and the shifting British policies alienated the colonists
further. In 1768 a new office, Secretary of State for the Colonies, was created to
focus on American issues.

It was in this context that in 1770 the king asked Frederick North, earl of Guilford
to form a government. Lord North's ministry, as measured by longevity, was better
than any during the previous decade. He remained prime minister for twelve years,
both because he and George III remained on good terms, but also because divisive
issues such as the Wilkes affair and the Falklands crisis with Spain had faded
away. During North's tenure George III moved away from the more active role he had
assumed earlier.

North would have preferred a complete repeal of the Townshend duties, but
Parliament pushed for a firm hand. The Boston Tea Party, one response to the Tea Act of 1773, led to further
hardening of the parliamentary opposition regarding a compromise with the American
colonists: the series of laws known as the Coercive or Intolerable Acts. The king supported taking a
tough stand toward the colonists, especially in light of the First Continental
Congress's intransigence regarding Parliament's right to legislate for
the colonies: "The dye is now cast," he wrote to North in 1774. "The colonies must
either submit or triumph. I do not wish to come to severer measures, but we must
not retreat."

Some historians believe that the king was unable to recognize the impact the
Intolerable Acts would have on the colonists. George III was hardly a belligerent;
his desire for a quick end to the Seven Years' War had established his reputation
as a peacemaker, and he believed throughout the American Revolution that "a
majority of the people of America" still wanted to be British subjects. He
ultimately accepted the North cabinet's more conciliatory policy to exempt
colonies that provided revenues for their civil and military affairs from British
taxation. But after the outbreak of armed conflict at the battles of Lexington and
Concord, George III entered into the cabinet's discussion of strategy and played a
critical role in encouraging North to remain in office when the prime minister
repeatedly wished to resign.

In July 1775, the conservative
Pennsylvania delegate John Dickinson persuaded the Second Continental Congress to
send George III what became known as the Olive Branch Petition, asking him to
intervene in Parliament on the colonists' behalf. The king refused to receive the
petition and in August proclaimed that the Americans "were engaged in open and
avowed rebellion." His announcement solidified the growing perception among
rebelling colonists that their enemy was not Parliament or the king's ministry,
but rather the king himself. When Congress issued the Declaration of Independence
in 1776, the document charged George III with violating the colonists' rights,
calling him "unfit to be the ruler of a free people." Upon hearing the Declaration
read aloud, George
Washington's troops and a group of civilians tore down the statue of
George III that had been erected in New York City after the Stamp Act repeal.

Policy and personality combined to form the king's attitude toward the American
conflict. In 1777 he wrote to Lord North that "the too great leniency of this
country increased their pride and encouraged them to rebel," a stance that
reflects his unwillingness to compromise and inability to see things from
another's point of view. But he also deeply believed that if one part of the
empire "cast off its dependency then the others will infallibly follow," and that
failing to take a strong stand against the Americans would weaken Britain in the
eyes of her European competitors—so his understanding of his nation in the context
of global affairs cannot be discounted.

Following the British surrender at the Battles of Saratoga, France and then Spain
entered the war in support of America. This prompted heated debate in Parliament
over whether to increase troop strength overseas, move the fighting from land to
sea, or withdraw from the conflict altogether. George III still hoped for victory
until the debacle at Yorktown in October 1781. Following a House of Commons vote
to suspend military operations in North America, Lord North almost lost a vote of
no confidence in the House of Commons. On March 20, 1782, he announced his
resignation.

George reluctantly accepted the new government of Lord Rockingham and William Petty, earl of
Shelburne, which made peace with the American rebels. But the
administration collapsed over the terms of the Treaty of Paris, which granted the Americans
more territory than had been fought over and failed to protect Loyalists. Rockingham died
suddenly on July 1, 1782, and in 1783 North returned in alliance with the duke of
Portland and Charles James Fox. The king despised Fox, even drafting an abdication
speech in protest of the current government, but he never delivered it. Instead he
dismissed Fox and North and appointed William Pitt (the younger) as prime
minister. Pitt's victory in the 1784 general election strengthened the
government's position in Parliament; simultaneously, the end of the American
conflict removed a divisive political issue. Even the king accepted the outcome of
events, telling John Adams, the first ambassador of a sovereign America, that he
desired to "meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power."

Later Years

In the 1780s George III experienced the
first signs of an illness—possibly porphyria, a genetic disease that can cause
mental disturbances—that would plague him for the remainder of his days. During
this decade political lines were redrawn between moderate Whigs and Tories, who
together supported Pitt, and the more radical Whig opposition, led by Fox. In 1788
and 1789 the king's mental condition and health were so unstable that the parties
fought over whether his son the Prince of Wales should become regent; the king's
recovery put an end to the crisis.

Early in the 1790s war with revolutionary France broke out; this in turn
encouraged the Irish Rebellion of 1798. George III played an important role in
shaping the outcome of the latter crisis, advocating suppression of the rebellion
and then unification of the parliaments of Britain and Ireland. The Acts of Union
of 1800 did just that, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Shortly thereafter, Pitt resigned because of a disagreement with the king over the
political emancipation of Roman Catholics. Pitt had supported emancipation as a
concession to Ireland; the king felt that granting it would be in violation of his
coronation oath to protect the Church of England.

Earlier historians have argued that George III was trying to turn the clock back
and reestablish monarchical authority lost to Parliament following the Glorious
Revolution. Examining his role in determining policy regarding the American
colonies, it is now clear that until the revolution the king backed his
governments rather than dictating to them. George III defended parliamentary
authority over the British empire by pushing his leading ministers to win the war.
In both cases he had deep support in Parliament for his actions. Although he
wished to restore the monarch's power to determine his ministers, once he chose
them they were allowed a free hand to govern the kingdom.

From 1780 to 1810 the king became the
symbol for a national revival and robust patriotism that only deepened following
the loss of America and the rise of conflict with revolutionary and Napoleonic
France. In these years "God Save the King" (ca. 1745) pushed out "Rule Britannia"
(1740) as the national anthem. The public saw him as Farmer George, a devout
family man with simple tastes and a keen interest in agriculture. In reality, his
strict morals and asceticism were often a source of conflict between the king and
his family, especially his son George, Prince of Wales, whom he viewed as a
profligate.

The king's Golden Jubilee (the fiftieth year of his reign) was popularly
celebrated in 1809, but soon afterward George III's mental state collapsed. This
was probably provoked by the death of his favorite daughter, Amelia, from
tuberculosis in 1810. He completely lost his sight and hearing; one of his doctors
commented that "he appears to be living in another world and has lost almost all
interest in the concerns of this." On February 5, 1811, he was declared unfit to
rule and his son George was appointed as regent. George III died—deaf, blind, and
lame—on January 29, 1820; he was buried two weeks later in a private ceremony in
St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

Time Line

1663
- Parliament passes the Staple Act, limiting the export of certain enumerated crops, most prominently Chesapeake tobacco and West Indian sugar, to England.

June 4, 1738
- George William Frederick, the future King George III, is born at Norfolk House in London. He is the son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.

March 20, 1751
- George William Frederick's father, Frederick, Prince of Wales, dies.

October 25, 1760
- King George II dies after suffering a stroke at Kensington Palace in London. George William Frederick succeeds his grandfather as king, taking the name George III.

September 8, 1761
- George III marries Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The couple will have fifteen children.

September 22, 1761
- George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz are crowned in a coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London.

October 1761
- William Pitt (the elder) resigns as secretary of state after failing to convince the cabinet that Britain should declare war on Spain to prevent Spain's involvement in the Seven Years' War.

May 26, 1762
- George III appoints John Stuart, earl of Bute, as prime minister of Great Britain.

February 10, 1763
- Britain, France, and Spain sign the Peace of Paris, ending the Seven Years' War, a global conflict known in North America as the French and Indian War.

April 16, 1763
- George Grenville replaces John Stuart, earl of Bute, as prime minister of Great Britain.

March 22, 1765
- Parliament passes the "Duties in American Colonies Act 1765," better known as the Stamp Act, a piece of legislation introduced by George Grenville, the British prime minister. It requires all printed materials in the American colonies to be produced on specially stamped paper manufactured in London, England.

May 29, 1765
- Patrick Henry persuades a sparsely attended House of Burgesses to adopt five resolutions condemning the Stamp Act as a violation of the ancient rights of Englishmen in Virginia, known as the "Virginia Resolves on the Stamp Act." Burgesses rescind one resolution and never formally propose or vote on two others.

March 17, 1766
- Under pressure from Charles Watson-Wentworth, marquess of Rockingham, King George III agrees to repeal the Stamp Act.

1766
- Grateful for the Stamp Act repeal, a group of New York City merchants commissions a statue of King George III, to be erected in Bowling Green Park.

1767
- Charles Townshend, chancellor of the exchequer, introduces the Revenue Act, which imposes duties on goods imported to the American colonies, including tea imported by the East India Company.

January 28, 1770
- George III appoints Frederick North, earl of Guilford, as prime minister of Great Britain.

December 16, 1773
- In response to the Tea Act, which restores the tea tax that had been repealed in 1767, a group of men, some dressed as Mohawk Indians, board three tea ships docked in Boston Harbor and throw the cargo into the sea.

July 8, 1775
- In an attempt to reconcile with England, the Second Continental Congress sends the so-called Olive Branch Petition to King George III asking him to intervene in Parliament on the colonists' behalf. The king refuses the petition.

August 23, 1775
- King George III proclaims the thirteen American colonies to be "engaged in open and avowed rebellion."

July 4, 1776
- The Second Continental Congress issues the Declaration of Independence, which labels King George III a tyrant and calls him "unfit to be the ruler of a free people."

July 9, 1776
- An angry mob, incited by a public reading of the Declaration of Independence, pulls down the statue of King George III in Bowling Green Park in New York City. The lead statue is melted down and molded into musket balls.

October 16, 1777
- After American troops surround his forces near Saratoga, New York, British general John Burgoyne surrenders his army to American general Horatio Gates.

March 20, 1782
- Frederick North, earl of Guilford, announces his resignation as prime minister of Great Britain. He is succeeded by Charles Watson-Wentworth, marquess of Rockingham.

September 3, 1783
- The Treaty of Paris is signed in Paris, France, by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Jay, and David Hartley. In the document, Britain formally recognizes American independence and cedes to America all lands south of the Great Lakes and east of the Mississippi River except for the Florida colonies.

December 19, 1783
- William Pitt (the younger) is appointed British prime minister.

August 2, 1786
- Margaret Nicholson attempts to kill King George III with a dessert knife; the king is not injured in the attack. Nicholson is examined by the Privy Council, declared insane, and committed to Bethlem Royal Hospital in London.

1788–1789
- King George III's mental and physical health become so unstable that factions of Parliament begin to fight over whether his son George, Prince of Wales, should be allowed to rule as regent. The king's recovery puts an end to the regency crisis, but he will relapse in 1801, 1804, and 1810.

April 23, 1789
- King George III celebrates his recovery with a thanksgiving service at Saint Paul's Cathedral, in London.

February 1, 1793
- The French National Convention declares war on Britain, who earlier in the year protested the imprisonment and execution of French king Louis XVI by joining the First Coalition against France (a group that includes Spain, Austria, and Prussia).

1798
- In Ireland, a group including Protestants and Catholics, called the Society of United Irishmen, initiates a string of bloody uprisings against the British, who in their view exert too much control over Irish affairs.

May 15, 1800
- James Hadfield shoots at King George III before a performance at Drury Lane Theatre in London. The king is unharmed and insists on staying to watch the play.

January 1, 1801
- The Union with Ireland Act and the Act of Union go into effect, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

October 25, 1809–October 25, 1810
- King George III's Golden Jubilee is celebrated, marking the fiftieth year of his reign.

November 2, 1810
- King George III's youngest and favorite daughter, Princess Amelia, dies at age twenty-seven of tuberculosis. After her death, George III's health and mental state decline permanently.

February 5, 1811
- King George III, who suffers from a debilitating physical and mental illness (possibly porphyria), is declared unfit to rule. His son George, Prince of Wales, is appointed regent.

November 17, 1818
- Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, dies; she is buried at Saint George's Chapel, at Windsor Castle.

January 29, 1820
- George III dies at Windsor; he is buried two weeks later in a private ceremony at Saint George's Chapel, at Windsor Castle.